The Politics of Time
As time shifts, so does the political landscape, subjects are bought up from the past while other events are just as fast as forgotten. However, the use of time is extremely important in politics, shaping our current thoughts of places, peoples, and countries. The ignorance of certain aspects of history are not being bought up in a variety of places, from the classroom to the news room. This only has the effect of creating a skewed narrative and allows ignorance and stereotypes to prevail.
A serious problem with the use of political time is
the issue of freeze framing in which things are frozen in time, as if in
suspended animation. Two examples that jump to mind are Martin Luther King, Jr.
and Malcolm X. With regards to MLK, the mainstream media consistently revels in
his I Have A Dream speech, with one
of the most famous quotes being “I have a
dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not
be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Yet, this image of MLK is completely
incorrect as it completely ignores MLK after this speech and how he became
increasingly more
and more radical. By acting as if he was nothing but a dreamer, it dilutes
his message, pushing it from reality to being based on flights of fancy and
ignores the work that he and countless others engaged in. Malcolm X is quite
the opposite as he is usually either ignored or demonized as a racist. This
utterly fails to take into account that during
the latter years of his life, Malcolm “spurned his past as a white-hating
separatist and Nation of Islam spokesman to become an orthodox Muslim and an
international figure” and pushed for the rights of all people, not just blacks.
Another use of political time is
forgetfulness, when important instances are left out from history. This happens
on a regular basis, not just on a national level, but also with books and other
media as well. A major example in regards to the United States is the omission
of the convict
lease system that occurred after slavery. The narrative usually goes that
after 1865, slavery ended with the passing of the 13th amendment,
however, the fact of the matter is that the 13th amendment states that
“neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except
as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted,
shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their
jurisdiction.” (emphasis added) Thus, it is clearly stated that slavery is
completely legal if it is for convicted criminals, however this ‘small’ omission
leaves people to believe that slavery is over when in fact the US still has
slaves, its just that they now in the prison system rather than out in the
fields.
A third and final use of political time is that of
distorting the narratives of events, groups, or people, which can be done
historically or with current events. An example that readily presents itself is
the ongoing conflict in Syria, where the rebels are generally portrayed as
mainly freedom fighters against the brutal Assad regime. This is quite far from
reality as it has recently been revealed that most of the rebels
are not seeking a democratic government. In addition to this, the rebels have
committed war crimes, yet there are those in the US such as John McCain
who still want to back the rebels. This distortion of current events creates a
situation where we find ourselves believing in myths and hearing what we want
to hear rather than facing the hard realities of the situation.
The manner in which events, people,
and groups are portrayed in such a manner as to support the status quo and have
an ideological basis which seeks to not get as close to the truth as we can.
What amounts is not only revionist history that supports the current power
structure, but also it allows for generations upon generations of people to be inculcated
with what is at times factually incorrect information and thus the people are
inculcated with myths and cannot fight to free themselves. Yet, on a deeper
level it degrades the value of history as we can’t truly say that we have a
history if it is based on myths and lies.
It’s time to stop distorting
history and tell the truth.
No comments:
Post a Comment